As an avid gamer, I’m always interested in finding fresh ways to engage my passion for playing so it was inevitable that I’d look at ChatGPT and ponder its potential to entertain.
So far, I’ve been using this wonderful AI platform to help with my gaming playthroughs and I’ve also been intrigued by its ability to code a game in seconds – one day, I’ll see if I can get it to produce a commercial-quality title for my trusty, ageing Amstrad CPC.
But I’ve also been exploring how ChatGPT can generate games that can be played directly after entering a prompt and I’ve been impressed by its versatility. Whether you’re looking for something short and snappy, seeking to stretch your mind or hoping to put your knowledge to the test, ChatGPT can deliver.
What’s more, in some instances, it can deliver gaming experiences on a par with those produced professionally. Let’s see what it can do.
Choose your own adventures
Children growing up in the 1980s and 1990s will no doubt remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books which allowed readers to follow a story and decide how the plot should unfold. It entailed a lot of flicking back and forth to specific pages, eventually landing upon one of a large number of endings. Think Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch but in paper form.
Anyway, I'm telling you this because ChatGPT lets you recreate the thrill of controlling a story’s development and you can determine the exact theme. Just type “Let’s play a choose your own adventure game” and describe what you want – for example, “set in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory” – and it will generate a story packed with choices.
There are also some premade choose-your-own-adventures such as DeepGame by Utile Labs. Try typing “Surprise me” or be more specific (“play a sci-fi story”) then get stuck in.
Generate a trivia quiz
ChatGPT is able to tap into a vast pit of knowledge so it makes sense that it would also make for a good quizmaster. You can get the AI to generate a set of questions about specific topics (“play a knowledge quiz about the history of the Super Bowl”, for example) or simply get it to play a general knowledge quiz.
You could also get ChatGPT to produce a 'true or false' game – it’ll present statements and you just need to determine whether they’ve been made up.
When setting up your quizzes, you can decide how many questions you want and whether you need ChatGPT to split them up into rounds. You can also ask the AI to create a quiz for multiple players and to keep score for you. Just don’t forget to indicate the level of difficulty you’re after otherwise the quiz could quickly become frustrating.
Enjoy some word-based games
There are loads of simple five-minute games you can play if you need a break and fancy a bit of fun. You can try Hangman, for instance, and guess a word one letter at a time or you can ask ChatGPT to generate a word search or a word ladder – the latter will start you off with a word and you need to change a letter at a time to get to a new word.
You can get ChatGPT to give you a set of words and get you to figure out which one is the odd one out. Or you can generate a host of word association chains. Other fun games include Who Am I? which tasks you with identifying a famous person, place or thing based on a series of clues and Would You Rather (“fly at walking speed or run only in a straight line”). Indeed, if you can think of a word-based game then chances are ChatGPT can sort it for you.
Play a game of Dungeons and Dragons
If you want to play a fantasy RPG game then you can type “play a game of Dungeons and Dragons”. You’ll be asked if you have a character or a setting in mind and you can decide if you want a one-shot adventure or a longer campaign.
You could, of course, be as descriptive as you like to create the type of game that you feel you will enjoy. Alternatively, just enter “you decide” when you’re asked various set-up questions to randomise your experience.
To get the most out of generating and playing games such as these, enter “tips on creating a D&D game ChatGPT” and give it a good read. ChatGPT can also be used to write scenarios for your tabletop D&D games so learn how to use ChatGPT for writing to produce stellar documents.
Engage in a board game
Talking of tabletop games, you can also get ChatGPT to play chess but beware, it turns out ChatGPT o1 cheats at chess if it's losing. Still, it’s worth a go. ChatGPT will create an initial setup of the board for reference using letters to represent the different pieces. It will then ask you to express your moves using grid references, for example E2 to E4.
ChatGPT can also play Battleship, Connect 4, Checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe, Sudoku, Scrabble and more. The latter works better if you ask the AI to “keep track on a grid” otherwise you’d have to resort to working out the different moves using a pen and paper.
As with many games via ChatGPT, the key is to be descriptive when asking to play so that they’re set up in the most convenient way for you. Have fun!
